the west, no way of escape.

[Illustration: A SHIP OF HUDSON'S FLEET. From his _Voyages_, 1612.]

Winter was coming on, "the nights were long and cold, and the earth
was covered with snow." They were several hundred miles south of the
straits, and no way had been found to the Pacific; they had followed
the south shore "to the westernmost bay of all," James Bay, but lo!
there was no South Sea. Hudson recognised the fact that he was
land-bound and winter-bound in a desolate region, with a discontented
crew, and that the discontent was amounting to mutiny. On 1st November
they hauled up the ship and selected a wintering place. Ten days later
they were frozen in, and snow was falling continuously every day. "We
were victualled for six months, and of that which was good," runs the
record. For the first three months they shot "partridges as white as
milk," but these left with the advent of spring, and hunger seized
on the handful of Englishmen wintering in this unknown land. "Then
we went into the woods, hills, and valleys--and the moss and the frog
were not spared." Not till the month of May did the ice begin to melt
and the men could fish. The first day this was possible they caught
"five hundred fish as big as good herrings and some trout," which
revived their hopes and their health. Hudson made a last despairing
effort to find a westward passage. But now the men rose in mutiny.
"We would rather be hanged at home than starved abroad!" they cried
miserably.

So Hudson "fitted all things for his return, and first delivered all
the bread out of the bread room (which came to a pound apiece for every
man's share), and he wept when he gave it unto them." It was barely
sufficient for fourteen days, and even with the fourscore small fish
they had caught it was "a poor relief for so many hungry bellies."

With a fair wind in the month of June, the little _Discovery_ was headed
for home. A few days later she was stopped by ice. Mutiny now burst
forth. The "master" and his men had lost confidence in each other.
There were ruffians on board, rendered almost wild by hunger and
privation. There is nothing more tragic in the history of exploration
than the desertion of Henry Hudson and his boy in their newly discovered
bay. Every detail of the conspiracy is given by Prickett. We know how
the rumour spread, how the crew resolved to turn the "master" and the
sick men adrift and to share the remaining provisions among themselves.
And h